UK imposes new sanctions on Russian ‘ghost fleet’

London announced new sanctions on Wednesday, September 11, targeting “the ghost fleet” of ships used by Russia to export its oil and circumvent Western restrictions imposed since the invasion of Ukraine. These new sanctions come as British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken are in Ukraine.

Ten ships are targeted by these sanctions, according to a statement from the British Foreign Office. They will no longer be able to enter British ports and will be denied access to the British shipping register. Three of these ships have been used to transport “for more than 5 billion dollars of Russian oil” since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the ministry said.

This is the third time the UK has targeted “the ghost fleet” from Russia, ships of sometimes opaque or uninsured ownership. “Putin’s war machine is funded by a dark and illicit economic system that this government is committed to destabilizing.”David Lammy was quoted as saying in the statement. Oil exports are “Putin’s main source of income to finance his illegal war in Ukraine”representing about a quarter of Russia’s budget in 2023, according to the British Foreign Office.